Like Water for Chocolate (ballet)

Like Water for Chocolate is the ballet adaptation of Laura Esquival's novel of the same name. The ballet was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, with music by Joby Talbot. The ballet version of Like Water for Chocolate was premiered by The Royal Ballet on June 2, 2022, and premiered in the United States by The American Ballet Theatre Company on March 28, 2023.

In the final scene of the ballet, the Pas de Deux is accompanied by Sunstone by Octavio Paz.

Critical Reception

Critical reception for the ballet was negative, with critics writing the ballet was too much like a Broadway show, as a plot-centered ballet with many scenes of elaborate staging and costuming.

Synopsis

Like Water for Chocolate follows the life of Tita De La Graza, a woman living during the Mexican War of Independence, as she yearns for her one true love, Pedro Muzquiz. The ballet spans the length of 20 years, as Tita, Pedro, and the other members of the De La Graza Ranch are caught between tradition, the cycles of generations, war, and romance.

Act 1

Scene 1: The De la Garza Ranch

The ballet opens inside the De la Garza Ranch kitchen, as a young Tita cooks with the family cook, Nacha. Nacha and Tita express their affection for each other while cooking, and Tita as well expresses her love and affection for her neighbor, Pedro. Tita and Pedro long for each other and Pedro proposes marriage to Tita. However, according to family tradition, the youngest daughter cannot marry in order to care for her mother as she ages. When Pedro and his father approach Tita's mother, Elena De la Garza, to ask for Tita's hand in marriage, Elena refuses, and redirects Pedro's proposal to Tita's older sister, Rosaura. Tita is devastated by this, and weeps into the batter she prepares to celebrate Pedro and Rosaura's wedding. Nacha tastes the cake that was baked with Tita's tears and is filled with grief over her lost love, and dies.

Scene 2: Rosaura and Pedro's Wedding

The guests arrive to celebrate Rosaura and Pedro's wedding. Tita, still consumed with sadness over the marriage is reassured by Pedro that they will still be able to be together, as Pedro gives Tita a rose as a symbol of their love. The guests consume the cake filled with Tita's tears, and become violently ill. Nacha is also revealed to have passed.

Scene 3: Baby Roberto

One year later, Rosaura and Pedro have had a baby boy, Roberto. However, Rosaura is struggling to feed him, and Doctor John Brown is called in as assistance. As the baby cries, Tita is left alone for a moment with the baby and Pedro, as they are both filled with love for each other. Mama Elana walks in on the two, interrupting the moment, and Mama Elana grows suspicious of both of them.

Scene 4: Quail in Rose Petal Sauce

Tita prepares a meal for the family using the rose that Pedro gave her at the wedding. After eating the meal, Gertrudis, Tita's sister, is filled with sensuality and romance, and tears off her clothes in an act of lust. She is spotted by a revolutionary soldier, who picks up Gertrudis as the two are wrapped up in sexual desire, and carries Gertrudis away.

Scene 5: A Hot, Sleepless Night

In the middle of the night, Tita and Pedro meet each other amidst the hanging sheets of laundry. As Tita and Pedro become swept up in each other, Mama Elana and Rosaura each prowl the home, suspicious of the two. As Tita and Pedro kiss, they are interrupted by a furious Mama Elana, who orders Pedro and Rosaura to leave the ranch.

Scene 6: Tita's Breakdown

Tita is devastated that Pedro and Roberto are now gone. When Chencha brings news that Roberto has died, Tita and Mama Elana blame each other for the death of the baby. During the fight, Mama Elana beats Tita, causing Tita to have a breakdown. Dr. John Brown is brought in to care for Tita.

Act II

Scene 1: Dr. John's House

Tita's health is improved by living with Dr. John and his son from his first wife. Dr. John proposes marriage to Tita. Tita and Dr. John are informed that Mama Elana has died.

Scene 2: Mama Elana's Wake:

Tita, Dr. John, Pedro, Rosaura, and their young daughter, Esperanza, arrive at the ranch to mourn Mama Elana. The group gather around the table that Mama Elana's body was placed on, as Tita discovers through a diary left in a box by Mama Elana, that Mama Elana too once has a forbidden love. A young Mama Elana rises to reenact her love to José, a man who she loved dearly but was forbidden from marrying by her parents. Young Mama Elana was forced instead to marry another man, and in spite her efforts to escape before her marriage with José.

Scene 3: The Engagement Dinner

Dr. John announces his engagement to Tita, as Pedro continues to declare his love to Tita when they are alone together. When Tita and Pedro once again become swept up in their love for each other, a ghost of Mama Elana appears, haunting their love. Suddenly, Gertrudis and soldiers from the revolutionary army arrive, along with the commander that Gertrudis has married, bringing a joyous surprise and celebration to the sisters.

Scene 4: Campfires

Celebrating the return of Gertrudis, a party is thrown outside, littered with bright campfires. Tita returns her engagement ring to Dr. John, wishing to be with Pedro, her true love. As Tita and Pedro join the group of happy dancers, they continue to be haunted by the ghost of Mama Elana, who follows and confronts them as they dance. Mama Elana's ghost reveals herself to Pedro, causing him to have a heart attack.

Act III

Scene 1: Three Rooms

As Pedro, being treated by Dr. John, improves, Rosaura's health fails. Dr. John and Tita work to care for both Pedro and Rosaura as John's son dances with Esperanza, raising Rosaura's jealousy and possessiveness over her daughter. Holding Esperanza back in the same way that Mama Elana held back Tita, Rosaura, grips her daughter until Rosaura suddenly dies.

Scene 2: The Ranch

20 years later, Tita, Pedro, and Dr. John return to celebrate the marriage of Dr. John's son to Esperanza, all celebrating that the oppressive tradition has been broken. After the wedding, Tita and Pedro are left alone, where they can finally consummate their love together. As they have sex, the house bursts into flames, fueled by the passion Tita and Pedro have for each other.